IAEA to Iran: Have They Really Done Anything Wrong?

By Tracy Dove, Ph.D
Editor, The Russia News Service

June 25, 2007

The headlines are bright and accusatory: Iran is defiant and indignant, threatening to devastate any country that tries to stop its nuclear program. But beyond that, most readers don't know the real story behind Iran's quest for nuclear energy over the past several decades. It is a confusing one, riddled with politics, threats and misunderstandings- and it is certainly a case that needs diplomacy and dialog, and not threats or sanctions- yet.

It must first be said that Iran was one of the initial countries to sign up for President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" policies back in the 1950's; the Americans' idea was to provide technology to those countries seeking to exploit nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while getting their signatures on paper that no bombs would be produced as a result. In 1959, Iran- under Shah Reza Pahlavi- signed this agreement and immediately received funds to build an experimental reactor in Teheran, which was completed in 1964 and generated the very unthreatening amount of 5 megawatts of electricity that was supposed to be a basis for domestic production of enriched uranium- approved by the UN and the United States.

In 1967, Iran signed on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, making it one of the many who joined the international community in saying no to the Bomb. During this time, Iran was the Wunderkind of American diplomacy and enjoyed lots of aid with which it bought an excessive amount of F-16 fighter jets. Seeing money in this future, the German company Thyssen Henschel signed an agreement with American approval to build up to 23 reactors for Iran by the year 2000- a goal we know now was not even fractionally achieved. But the building went on, and the first reactor to go online was the Bushehr facility in 1975. The new American President, Gerald Ford, even came up with a deal for the Iranians to start extracting plutonium from nuclear waste in order to guarantee a second supply line of fuel for the Iranian program. Ironically, the plan was backed by then Chief of Staff Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Unfortunately, the media picks up little of this detail in its coverage of the Iranian nuclear program, so let it be said here that Iran once had the green light to go ahead and enrich regular uranium as well as extract plutonium- which is a much bigger deal- and yields a much bigger bomb.

Things turned sour when the Ayatollah double-crossed the Americans and took the embassy and its employees hostage. The new American President- Ronald Reagan- feeling cheated by the Islamic Republic suddenly did an about-face on Iran's legitimate nuclear program and blacklisted the country so that it received no further aid in producing nuclear energy for its electricity production. The French and Germans- having received their money and a tacit nod of approval from Washington- suddenly turned off the aid to Iran, and the program faltered and failed as it had no more fuel to supply any more reactors.

Internationally, Iran was isolated; it seemed as good a time as any for Iraq to make good on its territorial claims along the Iranian border, and so the Iran-Iraq war began in 1980 to sputter through 8 miserable years of destruction, death and misery for both sides. One of the first victims to Iran's prestige was the bombing of the Bushehr nuclear facility by the Iraqi air force- putting an end to any ambitions there for producing a domestic supply of uranium.

As the years went on, Iran was constantly spurned by the international community and finally decided to produce its own fuel with no outside help. Only the post-Soviet Russians signed on to reconstruct the facility, although the pace was slow at first. But this is the kernel of consternation in the White House- that Iran has decided to turn its back on the IAEA and produce uranium independent of this agency's oversight. It is here that Iran is in violation of the IAEA accords it originally agreed to uphold, and this is the issue that is making the headlines in most Western papers.

One may call it a lost chance, others say our chance is now. Had the Iranians not been shut out of the international community of enriched, peaceful uranium, they might not have embarked on the independent course it has now decided to take. If we consider Dr. Khan in Pakistan and his intrigues in nuclear proliferation, we could reasonably say that Iran is actually in the top half of the well-behaved list of aspiring nuclear powers. The other side of the coin is familiar to us all: nip it in the bud- destroy the Iranian program now in its infancy. The Iraqis hardly saw the Israeli jets coming to destroy their nuclear facility back in 1982, but the Iranians might, and this is a cause for worry.

The IAEA and the UN are designed for defusing situations such as these, and not providing a legitimate fuse for reactionary solutions. There is still room for dialog, as well as an international understanding of Iran's dealings so far with the West in promoting a peaceful nuclear program.

Tracy Dove, editor of The Russia News Service, is a Professor of History and Dean of Summer Programs for the Lessing Institute. He also teaches history at the Anglo-American College in Prague.

See all previous articles by Tracy Dove here.